Systems and methods of providing a location

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods of providing a location that include receiving location data from user equipment, such as a cellphone or mobile device, and providing the location data in an acceptable form to emergency services, such as a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP). The location data from the user equipment can undergo a shape conversion process prior to being transmitted to emergency services. The systems and methods evaluate the received location data to determine if a semimajor and a semiminor axis of the received location data are equal in magnitude. If so, the shape conversion process is bypassed to prevent error from being introduced into the location data.

BACKGROUND

In the past, emergency services were typically contacted using atelephone that was connected to a landline. The physical nature of theconnection of the landline made the process of linking an incoming callto a physical location an easy task. Now, the rise of mobile devicesthat are not physically connected to a communication line, like cellulartelephones, means that people may contact or call emergency servicesfrom any geographic location with cellular service.

Determining a location of a mobile device, or user equipment (UE), thatis contacting emergency services, such as a Public Service AnsweringPoint (PSAP), can be difficult due to the device not having anassociated permanent, physical location. The location determinationoften produces a result showing that the mobile device is located in ageneral geographical area rather than a specific geographical location.Various methods and systems are used by the UE, a cellular carrier orprovider, or both to determine the location of the UE contactingemergency services. For example, the UE may determine and provide alocation of itself or the carrier may triangulate a location of the UEbased on signals emitted by the UE. The conventional methods do notdetermine an exact location of the UE and often result in an indicatedlocation of the UE with some uncertainty. The uncertainty about theindicated location of the UE can result in a somewhat large geographicalarea in which the UE may be physically located. The uncertaintyassociated with the indicated location can also cause difficulty foremergency services attempting to locate the user associated with the UE,which can cause reduced efficiency or effectiveness of the emergencyresponse.

What is needed is a system(s) and method(s) that reduces the uncertaintyassociated with location information provided by UE, such as a mobiledevice to assist with increasing the efficiency, effectiveness, or both,of a response by emergency services.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an example system of providing a location of a UE.

FIG. 2 is an example shape conversion.

FIG. 3 is another example shape conversion.

FIG. 4 is an example of providing a location.

FIG. 5 is an example method of providing a location of a UE.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The described systems and methods of providing a location improve anuncertainty associated with user equipment (UE) locations provided toemergency service. More specifically, the described location providingsystems and methods minimize or eliminate introduced uncertainty causedby converting UE-provided location to a format required or preferred byemergency services. For instance, the Public Safety Answering Point(PSAP) can require or prefer that the UE location be provided in aparticular format, which can be different than the format in which theUE provides a location. When contacting emergency services, the UE canbe caused to provide a location that includes location data regardingthe current geographical location of the UE to the emergency services.The UE can provide its geographical location as location data thatincludes a set of coordinates with an associated amount of uncertaintybased on the accuracy of how the UE has determined its location, such asby using satellite navigation or other on-device systems or methods. Thevarious on-device systems and methods of determining the location of theUE, such as a set of coordinates, have an amount of inherent inaccuracywith some systems or methods having an increased accuracy of determininga location of the UE over other systems or methods. The uncertainty ofthe coordinates provided by the UE is represented as a semimajor axisand a semiminor axis.

The semimajor and semiminor axes define an area of uncertainty about anorigin that is the set of coordinates provided by the UE. As such, theactual geographical location of the UE might not actually be at thecoordinates provided by the UE. Instead, the actual geographicallocation of the UE may fall within this area of uncertainty. The area ofuncertainty is provided as a semimajor axis and a semiminor axis, whichdefine an area of uncertainty that is shaped as an ellipse or an“uncertainty ellipse.” Emergency services, such as a PSAP, require thata location from a UE is provided as a location data that includes set ofcoordinates and a radius or axis that indicates the uncertaintyassociated with the provided coordinates. To provide emergency serviceswith the location data from the UE, cellular service providers haveinfrastructure that performs a shape conversion process on the locationdata received from the UE to convert the shape of the area ofuncertainty of the received location data or location, such as a set ofcoordinates and an elliptically-shaped area of uncertainty, intoconverted location data or location, such as a set of coordinates and acircular-shaped area of uncertainty, that can be provided to the PSAP.

In an example, the received location data from the UE can include asemimajor axis having a first feature, such as a first value ormagnitude, and semiminor axis having a similar feature, such as a secondvalue or magnitude, that is less than the first value. That is, theuncertainty associated with the coordinates provided by the UE is anarea of uncertainty that has a shape defined by the semimajor andsemiminor axes, such as ellipse shaped area of uncertainty. A shapeconversion process uses an algorithm to convert the UE provided locationdata, in this example containing an elliptically-shaped area ofuncertainty, into converted location data that includes acircular-shaped area of uncertainty that is defined by a set ofcoordinates and a radius. The shape-converted location data or location,such as a set of geographical coordinates and associated area ofuncertainty, can be provided to the PSAP. In another example, a feature,such as the values of semimajor and semiminor axes of the location datareceived from the UE, can be equal. That is, the UE-provided locationdata includes a circular-shaped area of uncertainty. Prior to providingthis location data to the emergency services, the network infrastructureautomatically performs the shape conversion process on the location datareceived from the UE. However, because the shape conversion algorithm isattempting to convert an already circular-shaped area of uncertaintyinto a circular-shaped area of uncertainty that can be provided to theemergency services, the resultant converted location data can haveadditional uncertainty introduced by the shape conversion process.

To avoid introducing unnecessary uncertainty caused by performing shapeconversions on UE-provided location data that already defines acircular-shaped area of uncertainty, the disclosed systems and methodsfirst compare a feature of the semimajor and semiminor axes, such astheir values or magnitudes, of the UE-provided location data todetermine if the semimajor and semiminor axes are equal. If thesemimajor and semiminor axes of the UE's provided location data areequal, then the systems and methods can bypass the shape conversionprocess entirely, which prevents the introduction of additionaluncertainty. The UE-provided location data can be processed to formatthe location data into a format or structure that is required by thePSAP, if necessary.

FIG. 1 is an example system 100 of providing a location that includes UE110, carrier infrastructure 120 and emergency services 130. In anemergency situation, such as during a phone call to emergency services,the UE 110 can provide a location or location data to the carrierinfrastructure 120, which can then provide a location or data indicativeof a location of the UE 110 to the emergency services 130. The emergencyservices 130 can require, or desire, the provided location be in aparticular format, include particular information or characteristics, orboth. For example, the emergency services 130 can require that theprovided location be in a format that includes a set of coordinates anda single radius that denotes the uncertainty associated with theprovided location. The carrier infrastructure 120 can process thelocation data provided by the UE 110 to prepare the location data in theproper format for the emergency services 130.

The UE 110 includes a location module 112 that determines a location ofthe UE 110. The location module can include various sensors and systemsthat can be used to determine a location of the UE 110, such as by usingexternal radio, or other, signals received by the UE 110. In an example,the location module 112 can include a Global Navigation Satellite System(GNSS) system 114, one or more radiolocation systems 116, other variouslocation determining and sensing elements, systems or features, orcombinations thereof. The GNSS system 114 can include Global PositioningSystem (GPS), GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou, other satellite navigationsystems, or combinations thereof. To assist with determining theposition of the UE 110, the GNSS system 114 receives signals from one ormore satellites, and these signals are processed to determine thelocation of the UE 110. The radiolocation system 116 can include one ormore elements that receive various radio signals, such as cellulartelephone signals, signals emitted by Wi-Fi access points, signalsemitted from beacons, or other radio signals. The received radio signalscan be processed and analyzed to determine a location of the UE 110.

The location module 112 can use a combination of the various locationsensors and systems, including GNSS 114, radiolocation 116, or othersensors or systems of the UE 110 to determine and provide a location ofthe UE 110. Other sensors or systems of the device can include anaccelerometer, gyroscope, or other sensors and systems of the UE 110.The location module 110 can use the data from the various other sensorsand systems to generate, or provide, a Device-Based Hybrid (DBH)location. The DBH location can be more accurate than a locationdetermined using a particular sensor or system of the UE 110 because theDBH location can account for the environment in which the UE 110 islocated. For example, when UE 110 is in an urban or high-populationenvironment, it may experience difficulties determining an accuratelocation of the UE using a GNSS system 114, such as GPS, due to thedifficulties in receiving satellite signals within such an environment,such as caused by obstructions and other environmental factors. As such,the location of the UE 110 within the urban environment, determinedusing a GNSS system 114, can have more uncertainty or error than alocation determined using GNSS 114 in a more open environment. The UE110 can account for the environment by determining a DBH location usingother sensor or systems of the UE 110, such as Wi-Fi signals orBluetooth® beacon signals. The location data from the various sensorsand systems can be processed and combined by the UE 110 to generate aDBH location of the UE 110, which can have an increased accuracy, orlower error, than a location determined using a single sensor or system.

When the UE 110 contacts emergency services 130, such as a PSAP 132, theUE 110 can provide or can be requested to provide location data to allowthe emergency services 130 to determine or learn a current location ofthe UE 110. To provide the location data to the emergency services 130,the UE 110 can first provide the location data, such as a DBH locationthat includes a set of coordinates and uncertainty, to the carrierinfrastructure 120. The carrier infrastructure 120 can process andprovide the location data from the UE 110 to the emergency services 130.Additionally, the carrier infrastructure 120 can format, or structure,the location data before providing the location data to the emergencyservices 130. Since, as discussed previously, the emergency services 130can require or desire that the provided location information is receivedin a particular format or structure.

The UE 110 can provide the location data as a set of coordinates, suchas a latitude and longitude, and an associated uncertainty. Theuncertainty is due to not being able to guarantee an exact location ofthe UE 110 when providing the location of the UE 110. There are manyways in which the uncertainty of the location can be provided. In theexample of providing a DBH location, the uncertainty can be provided asa semimajor axis and a semiminor axis, which are centered on theprovided longitude and latitude coordinates. As such, the DBH is oftenrepresented as an elliptically-shaped area of uncertainty about the setof coordinates provided by the UE 110. It is within this area ofuncertainty in which the UE 110 is located, or determined to be located.However, many emergency services 130 require, or desire, that theprovided location of the UE include a set of coordinates and acircular-shaped area of uncertainty, such as a radius or axis definingthe area of uncertainty about the provided coordinates. The carrierinfrastructure 120 can convert the location data provided by the UE 110into the proper format or shape required, or desired, by the emergencyservices 130.

The carrier infrastructure, such as an Evolved Serving Mobile LocationCenter (ESMLC), can include a shape conversion module 122 and aprocessor 140, and can perform a shape conversion process that canconvert the provided location data from the UE 110 into another formator structure for the emergency services 130. The shape conversion module122 can receive the UE-provided location data, such as a DBH or otherlocation, and can convert the UE-provided location information, such asa set of coordinates and an elliptically-shaped area of uncertainty, toa set of coordinates and a circular-shaped area of uncertainty that isprovided to the emergency services 130. The shape conversion module 122can include a memory 128 which stores location data instructions,including a semimajor and semiminor axes value check 124 and analgorithm 126 to convert location data. To perform the shape conversion,the shape conversion module 122 can include the algorithm 126 that usesone or more mathematical functions to convert the location data receivedfrom the UE 110 into the location data that is provide to the emergencyservices 130.

The algorithm 126 can convert the location provided by the UE 110 into aconverted location that can be provided to the emergency services 130.However, if the location data provided by the UE includes acircular-shaped are of uncertainty, the shape conversion algorithm canintroduce additional uncertainty into the location data, as the processtries to convert the already circular-shaped area of uncertaintyprovided by the UE into the circular-shaped area of uncertainty that isto be transmitted to the emergency services 130. That is, in situationsin which the UE 110 provided location has semimajor and semiminor axesof equal magnitude or value, the shape conversion module 122 can attemptto convert the provided location and output a converted location havinga radius, or axis, greater than either of the semimajor and semiminoraxes. As such, the resultant circular-shaped area of uncertainty of theconverted location is larger than the initial circular-shaped area ofuncertainty of the location information provided by the UE 110. Thisgreater uncertainty results in a larger area of uncertainty beingprovided to the emergency services 130, which can increase thedifficulty in determining the actual, physical location of the UE 110.However, this increased uncertainty introduced by the shape conversionmodule 122, or shape conversion process, can be reduced or eliminated bynot performing the shape conversion process on the UE 110 providedlocation when the semimajor and semiminor axes are equal.

To prevent the unnecessary introduced uncertainty by the shapeconversion process, the shape conversion module 122 can include thesemimajor and semiminor axes value check 124 that compares a feature,such as the magnitudes or values of the semimajor and semiminor axes, todetermine if they have a pre-determined value, such as the magnitude ofvalue of the semimajor and semiminor axes being equal. If the check 124determines that the semimajor and semiminor axes are equal in magnitudeor value, it can cause the UE-provided location to bypass the shapeconversion process, such as shape conversion by the algorithm 126. Ifthe check 124 determines the semimajor and semiminor axes are differentmagnitudes or values, it can allow the shape conversion process toproceed or otherwise not prevent the shape conversion process fromoccurring. When the check 124 determines that shape conversion of theUE-provided location data is unnecessary, the carrier infrastructure120, the shape conversion module 122, or both can format or structurethe UE 110 provided location data into a format or structure that isrequired or desired by the emergency services 130, if necessary.

The emergency services 130 can include one or more emergency services,such as fire, police and medical, that can respond to or handlecommunications from the UE 110, such as a request for an emergencyservice 130. The UE 110 interaction(s) with the emergency services 130can be through a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) 132, or other callor response centers for emergency services. The emergency services 130may want to know a location of the UE 110 since this is the likelylocation to which emergency services will be dispatched. To assist withthat, the UE 110 can provide location data to the emergency services 130through the carrier infrastructure 120. The emergency services 130 canrequire that the provided location data be provided in a particularformat or structure, such as a longitude and latitude coordinates with aradius, or axis, of uncertainty, e.g. a circular-shaped area ofuncertainty about the coordinates. The location data provided to theemergency services 130 can assist with determining a location to whichthe emergency services 130 should be dispatched and having reduceduncertainty in the provided location can assist with increasing theefficiency, effectiveness, or both, of the emergency services 130response. As such, when the UE 110 provided location data includes anarea of uncertainty that is already circular-shaped, it is advantageousto bypass the shape conversion process to prevent additional uncertaintyfrom being introduced into the area of uncertainty associated with thelocation data that will be provided to the emergency services 130.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example shape conversion 200 of a UE-providedlocation 210 to a converted location 230 that can be provided toemergency services. The UE-provided location 210, such as a DBHlocation, includes a central point 212, having a longitude and alatitude, and an elliptically-shaped are of uncertainty. The area ofuncertainty is defined by a semimajor axis 214 and a semiminor axis 216and is indicative of the uncertainty associated with the central point212. The combination of the central point 212 and the semimajor andsemiminor axes 214, 216 define elliptically-shaped area of uncertaintythat is provided by the UE, along with the coordinates of the centralpoint 212, as part of the location data. The elliptically-shaped area ofuncertainty is not acceptable, or not desirable, by the emergencyservices, so the provided location data undergoes a shape conversionprocess 220 that converts the UE-provided location into the convertedlocation 230. The converted location 230 includes a central point 232that is defined by longitude and latitude coordinates, and a radius 234that is indicative of the uncertainty regarding the converted location.The central point 232 of the converted location 230 can have the samelongitude and latitude coordinates as the central point 212 of theprovided location 210. Alternatively, the central points 212, 232 of theprovided and converted locations 210, 230 can have different longitudeand latitude coordinates. The converted location 230 can be provided toemergency services as an indication of the geographical location of theUE and the uncertainty associated with the provided coordinates of thegeographical location of the UE.

FIG. 3 illustrates another example shape conversion 300 of a UE-providedlocation 310 into a converted location 330 that can be provided toemergency services. The UE-provided location 310, such as a DBHlocation, includes a central point 312, having a longitude and latitude,and a circular-shaped area of uncertainty. The area of uncertaintyassociated with the central point 312 is defined by the semimajor andsemiminor axes 314, 316 that are indicative of the uncertainty of theprovided location. In this example, the semimajor and semiminor axes314, 316 are equivalent, hence the circular shaped area of uncertaintyof the UE-provided location 310. The UE-provided location 310 canundergo shape conversion 320 to generate the converted location 330. Theconverted location 330 has a central point 332, having longitude andlatitude coordinates, and a radius 334 that is indicative of theuncertainty regarding the converted location. In this example, the shapeconversion process was performed on a circular-shaped area ofuncertainty of the UE-provided location 310 and resulted in a convertedlocation 330 that also has circular-shaped area of uncertainty but hasan increased uncertainty in comparison to the UE-provided location 310.That is, the shape conversion process 320 has introduced additionaluncertainty into the converted location 330. The increased uncertaintyof the converted location 330 can reduce the efficiency, effectiveness,or both, of determining a location of the UE by the emergency services,such as a location to dispatch services to or guiding the services to alocation of the UE.

FIG. 4 is an example of providing a location 400 that includes thesemimajor and semiminor axes check functionality, or logic, that preventa shape conversion process from being performed on a provided location410. The UE-provided location 410 includes central point 412 that haslongitude and latitude coordinates and equal semimajor and semiminoraxes 414, 416 that define the area of uncertainty about the centralpoint 412, like the provided location 310 of FIG. 3. However, the shapeconversion process is prevented from happening since the semimajor andsemiminor axes 414, 416 are equal and the shape conversion process canintroduce additional uncertainty in location data or location that isprovided to an emergency service. The UE-provided location 410 hasuncertainty associated therewith that can be caused by inherentinaccuracies of the location sensors, processes or systems that the UEis using to determine its location. Performing the shape conversionprocess on a UE-provided location that includes a circular-shaped areaof uncertainty, such as 410, can cause additional uncertainty to beintroduced, such as by the algorithm, as the process attempts to convertthe UE-provided circular-shaped area of uncertainty into acircular-shaped area of uncertainty that can be provided to emergencyservices. To prevent the introduction of additional uncertainty, theshape conversion process can be prevented from being performed onUE-provided location data that includes a circular-shaped area ofuncertainty. Instead of performing the shape conversion process, theUE-provided location 410 can be formatted into a provided location 420that includes a central point 422 that has longitude and latitudecoordinates, and a radius 424 that indicates the uncertainty associatedwith the provided location 420.

In an example, the central point 422 of the provided location 420 canhave the same coordinates as the central point 412 of the UE-providedlocation 410 and the radius 424 can be either (or both) of the equalsemimajor or semiminor axes 414, 416 of the UE-provided location 410. Bypreventing the shape conversion from being performed on thecircular-shaped area of uncertainty of the UE-provided location 410, noadditional error is introduced into the provided location 420, unlikethe example of FIG. 3. The more accurate or correct provided location420 can assist with maintaining or increasing the efficiency oreffectiveness of the emergency services response in comparison to theprovided location that undergoes the shape conversion process togenerate the converted location.

FIG. 5 is an example process 500 of providing a location to an emergencyservice, such as a PSAP. The example process 500 can be performed by theprocessor 140 configured to receive the location data and execute thelocation data instructions. The processor 140 can access the locationdata instructions from the memory 128. At 502, location data, such as aDBH location, is received from the UE. The received location data caninclude a set of longitude and latitude coordinates, along withsemimajor and semiminor axes that are indicative of the uncertaintyassociated with the location data. The received location data of the UEcan define an elliptically-shaped or a circular-shaped area ofuncertainty associated with the provided coordinates at which the UE islikely located.

At 504, the semimajor and semiminor axes are compared to determine ifthe values, or magnitudes, of the axes are equal. If the receivedlocation data defines an elliptically-shaped area of uncertainty, thenthe semimajor and semiminor axes of the received location data will beunequal, or different, in value or magnitude. If the received locationdata defines a circular-shaped area of uncertainty, then the semimajorand semiminor axes of the received location data will be equal or thesame in value or magnitude. When the determination is made that thesemimajor and semiminor axes are equal, the process proceeds to 506, andif the semimajor and semiminor axes are unequal, the process proceeds to508.

At 506, the semimajor and semiminor axes are equal so the receivedlocation data already includes the circular-shaped area of uncertaintyrequired, or desired, by the PSAP or other emergency services orresponders. The received location data can be transmitted, or provided,to the PSAP as the location of the UE. Prior to transmitting thelocation data, the received location data can be processed, orstructured, into a format that is acceptable to emergency services, suchas a PSAP-acceptable format, if needed. The emergency servicesacceptable format can allow the emergency services to process theprovided location data using their systems. The emergency servicesacceptable format creates a universal standard for incoming data relatedto emergencies from all sources of emergency requests. For example, theemergency services can parse the data in the emergency servicesacceptable format into its components for further processing, such asprocessing to optimize response time for first responders toemergencies.

At 508, the received location data can undergo the shape conversionprocess to convert the ellipsis-shaped area of uncertainty into acircular-shaped area of uncertainty associated with the coordinates ofthe location data provided by the UE. The shape conversion process canuse an algorithm to convert the longitude and latitude coordinates andthe semimajor and semiminor axes of the received location data into theconverted location data that includes a circular-shaped area ofuncertainty, or longitude and latitude coordinates with a radius, thatcan be provided or transmitted to a PSAP, or other emergency servicesrelated entity. In an example, a cellular service provider, or carrier,can use their network infrastructure to perform this shape conversionprocess and to provide the converted location data to the PSAP, oremergency services.

At 510, the converted location data is transmitted, or otherwiseprovided, to the PSAP. The converted location data includes a set ofcoordinates and a circular-shaped area of uncertainty at which theinitial location data providing UE, such as a mobile device, is located.Prior to transmitting the converted location data to the PSAP, theconverted location data can be formatted or structured, if necessary,based on the requirements of the PSAP. The converted data can includelongitude and latitude coordinates and a radius indicative of the errorregarding the exact location of the UE that provided the initiallocation data.

The features disclosed in the foregoing description, or the followingclaims, or the accompanying drawings, expressed in their specific formsor in terms of a means for performing the disclosed function, or amethod or process for attaining the disclosed result, as appropriate,may, separately, or in any combination of such features, be used forrealizing the invention in diverse forms thereof.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method of providing a location of a userequipment (UE), comprising: receiving location data from the UE, thelocation data including at least a semimajor axis and a semiminor axis;comparing a feature of the semimajor axis and the semiminor axis; if thecompared feature has a pre-determined value having equal magnitude,bypassing a shape conversion process; and after the shape conversionprocess is bypassed, outputting the location data.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising formatting the location data into a formatthat is acceptable to emergency services, and after the shape conversionprocess is bypassed, outputting the formatted location data.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the location data includes a set ofcoordinates that indicates a geographic area of the UE.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising, after the shape conversion process isbypassed, immediately outputting the location data.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising outputting the location data to an emergencyservice.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the emergency service is apublic safety answering point (PSAP).
 7. A location providing system,comprising: a processor configured to: receive location data, andexecute location data instructions, the instructions comprising,comparing a feature of a semimajor axis and a semiminor axis, and if acompared feature has a predetermined value having equal magnitude,foregoing converting the location data into the converted location data,and convert location data received by a user equipment (UE) intoconverted location data; and a memory storing the location datainstructions, the memory being accessible by the processor.
 8. Thesystem of claim 7, wherein the location data of the UE is generated byone or more sensors of the UE.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein thelocation data is a device hybrid location.
 10. The system of claim 7,wherein the location data includes a set of coordinates that indicates ageographic area of the UE.
 11. The system of claim 7, further comprisingan output to transmit the location data to an emergency service.
 12. Thesystem of claim 11, wherein the emergency service is a public safetyanswering point (P SAP).
 13. The system of claim 7, further comprisingan output programmed to transmit the formatted location data to theemergency service, and the processor being further configured format thelocation data into a formatted location data for an emergency service.14. The system of claim 13, wherein a carrier infrastructure comprisesthe processor and the output.
 15. The system of claim 7, wherein theconverted location data comprises a radius, and wherein the locationdata comprises a semimajor axis and a semiminor axis.
 16. The system ofclaim 7, wherein the feature of the semimajor axis and the semiminoraxis is a same feature.